LETTER: Shabazz refuses to see why Ritz won

A partisan, whether Democrat or Republican, is a person who in times of moral conflict will place the needs of his party over the needs of the people. In his column on Sunday in the Courier & Press, Mr. Abdul Hakim-Shabazz assured readers of our fine newspaper that he is "all in" as a partisan.

As another in a long list of whiners that have been published on this subject, Hakim-Shabazz cannot accept that Glenda Ritz handily won the election for Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction. To process this reality Hakim-Shabazz has had to assume that her victory was somehow the result of some liberal conspiracy rather than the simple repudiation of the style and some of the policies of her predecessor, Tony Bennett.

In his column Hakim-Shabazz then had the gall to suggest that the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction should be appointed. Hey, all this time I thought Republicans were in the party that promotes freedom and individual liberties. Since when is it freedom to take an important government position out of the hands of the voters and make it a governor's puppet.

Yes, right now I can almost hear the howls of moral outrage that would be coming from Hakim-Shabazz if the situation were reversed. I seriously doubt that he would want any government position to be appointed if he was living in a state dominated by Democrats and the office holder was a Republican.